Diet Can Prevent Diabetes, Heart Attacks and Cancer...

I have been thinking a lot about my health, my fellas health and the health of others I care for.
This morning I watched a great documentary...it is almost 2 hours long, but well worth the watch! I found it on Hulu. It is called Chow Down (just click on the name to go watch it!)
Watching that documentary has made me even more determined to get a good garden going this spring and providing healthy food for my family here.My fella (like most American men) is of the opinion that unless there is a juicy slab of meat on his plate, dinner has NOT been served! I am going to have to convince him and the kids that having a meatless meal is NOT torture! I do have them eating salads about twice to three times a week now, thank goodness. I probably won't be able to switch them completely to a meatless diet, but perhaps I can get them to view vegetables and fruit as friends and not enemies!
Just to open your eyes a bit more...think about this....the US is considered the richest, most powerful nation on earth, yet we are NOT the healthiest!
I ended up going to Wikipedia looking up diet, longevity, cultural diets and a slew of other food related topics and found this:

Rank by UN member state	Rank by entity	Entity	Overall life expectancy at birth	Male life expectancy at birth	Female life expectancy at birth
-	1	Macau	84.36	81.39	87.47
1	2	Andorra	82.51	80.33	84.84
2	3	Japan	82.12	78.8	85.62
3	4	Singapore	81.98	79.37	84.78
4	5	San Marino	81.97	78.53	85.72
-	6	Hong Kong	81.86	79.16	84.79
5	7	Australia	81.63	79.25	84.14
6	8	Canada	81.23	78.69	83.91
7	9	France (metropolitan)	80.98	77.79	84.33
8	10	Sweden	80.86	78.59	83.26
9	11	Switzerland	80.85	78.03	83.83
-	12	Guernsey	80.77	77.76	83.88
10	13	Israel	80.73	78.62	82.95
11	14	Iceland	80.67	78.53	82.9
	15	Anguilla	80.65	78.11	83.26
	16	Cayman Islands	80.44	77.2	83.72
	17	Bermuda	80.43	77.65	83.26
12	18	New Zealand	80.36	78.43	82.39
13	19	Italy	80.2	77.26	83.33
	20	Gibraltar	80.19	77.3	83.22
14	21	Monaco	80.09	76.3	84.09
15	22	Liechtenstein	80.06	76.59	83.53
16	23	Spain	80.05	76.74	83.57
17	24	Norway	79.95	77.29	82.74
	25	Jersey	79.75	77.23	82.46
18	26	Greece	79.66	77.11	82.37
19	27	Austria	79.5	76.6	82.56
	28	Faroe Islands	79.44	77	82.05
20	29	Malta	79.44	76.95	81.47
21	30	Netherlands	79.4	76.8	82.14
22	31	Luxembourg	79.33	76.07	82.81
23	32	Germany	79.26	76.26	82.42
24	33	Belgium	79.22	76.06	82.53
	34	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	79.07	76.69	81.57
	35	U.S. Virgin Islands	79.05	76.02	82.26
25	36	United Kingdom	79.01	76.52	81.63
26	37	Finland	78.97	75.48	82.61
27	38	Jordan	78.87	76.34	81.56
	39	Isle of Man	78.82	75.86	81.93
28	40	South Korea	78.72	77.45	82.22
	41	European Union	78.67	75.54	81.97
	42	Puerto Rico ( US)	78.53	74.85	82.39
29	43	Bosnia and Herzegovina	78.5	74.92	82.34
	44	Saint Helena	78.44	75.52	81.5
30	45	Cyprus	78.33	75.91	80.86
31	46	Denmark	78.3	75.96	80.78
32	47	Ireland	78.24	75.6	81.06
33	48	Portugal	78.21	74.95	81.69
	49	Wallis and Futuna	78.2	75.22	81.32
34	50	United States	78.11	75.65	80.69
35	51	Albania	77.96	75.28	80.89
	52	Taiwan	77.96	75.12	81.05
36	53	Kuwait	77.71	76.51	78.95
37	54	Costa Rica	77.58	74.96	80.34
38	55	Cuba	77.45	75.19	79.85
39	56	Chile	77.34	74.07	80.77
40	57	Libya	77.26	74.98	79.65
	58	British Virgin Islands	77.26	76.03	78.55
41	59	Panama	77.25	74.47	80.16
42	60	Slovenia	76.92	73.25	80.84
43	61	Czech Republic	76.81	73.54	80.28
44	62	Georgia	76.72	73.41	80.45
	63	French Polynesia ( France)	76.31	73.88	78.86
	64	Northern Mariana Islands ( US)	76.71	74.26	79.29
	65	Netherlands Antilles ( Netherlands)	76.65	74.03	79.09
45	66	Argentina	76.56	73.32	79.97
46	67	Saint Lucia	76.45	73.78	79.27
47	68	Uruguay	76.35	73.1	79.72
48	69	Saudi Arabia	76.3	74.23	78.48
49	75	Poland	76.28	73.12	79.44
50	70	United Arab Emirates	76.11	73.56	78.78
51	71	Mexico	76.06	73.25	79
52	72	Tunisia	75.78	73.98	77.7
53	73	Paraguay	75.77	73.19	78.49
54	74	Brunei	75.74	73.52	78.07
55	76	Dominica	75.55	72.61	78.64
	77	Turks and Caicos Islands	75.42	73.12	77.83
56	78	Slovakia	75.4	71.47	79.53
57	79	Croatia	75.35	71.72	79.18
58	80	Qatar	75.35	71.66	77.14
59	81	Ecuador	75.3	72.37	78.37
	82	Aruba ( Netherlands)	75.28	72.25	78.38
60	83	Bahrain	75.16	72.64	77.76
61	84	Sri Lanka	75.14	73.08	77.28
	85	New Caledonia ( France)	74.98	71.99	78.12
62	86	Lithuania	74.9	69.98	80.1
63	87	Antigua and Barbuda	74.76	72.81	76.81
64	88	Macedonia	74.68	72.18	77.38
	89	West Bank	74.54	72.54	76.65
	90	Cook Islands	74.22	71.46	77.13
65	91	Oman	74.16	71.87	76.55
66	92	Algeria	74.02	72.35	75.77
67	93	Mauritius	74	70.53	77.65
68	94	Maldives	73.97	71.78	76.28
69	95	Barbados	73.94	71.65	76.26
70	96	Serbia	73.9	71.09	76.89
71	97	Suriname	73.73	71	76.65
	98	American Samoa ( US)	73.72	70.8	76.82
72	99	Dominican Republic	73.7	71.88	75.6
73	100	Solomon Islands	73.69	71.14	76.37
74	101	Lebanon	73.66	71.15	76.31
75	102	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	73.65	71.82	75.54
76	103	Venezuela	73.61	70.54	76.83
77	104	Jamaica	73.53	71.83	75.3
78	105	People's Republic of China	73.47	71.61	75.52
79	106	Hungary	73.44	69.27	77.87
	107	Gaza Strip	73.42	71.82	75.12
80	108	Malaysia	73.29	70.56	76.21
81	109	Saint Kitts and Nevis	73.2	70.33	76.25
82	110	Thailand	73.1	70.77	75.55
83	111	Bulgaria	73.09	69.48	76.91
84	112	Seychelles	73.02	68.33	77.85
85	113	Estonia	72.82	67.45	78.53
86	114	Colombia	72.81	68.98	76.76
	115	Montserrat	72.76	74.74	70.68
87	116	Armenia	72.68	69.06	76.81
88	117	Romania	72.45	68.95	76.16
89	118	El Salvador	72.33	68.72	76.11
90	119	Latvia	72.15	66.98	77.59
91	120	Egypt	72.12	69.56	74.81
92	121	Brazil	71.99	68.43	75.73
93	122	Turkey	71.96	70.12	73.89
94	123	Uzbekistan	71.96	68.95	75.15
95	124	Samoa	71.86	69.03	74.84
96	125	Morocco	71.8	69.42	74.3
97	126	Cape Verde	71.61	68.27	75.05
98	127	Vietnam	71.58	68.78	74.57
99	128	Nicaragua	71.5	69.35	73.75
100	129	Palau	71.22	68.08	74.54
101	130	Marshall Islands	71.19	69.15	73.34
102	131	Syria	71.19	69.8	72.68
103	132	Iran	71.14	69.65	72.72
104	133	Philippines	71.09	68.17	74.15
105	134	Federated States of Micronesia	70.94	69.06	72.93
106	135	Trinidad and Tobago	70.86	67.98	73.82
107	136	Moldova	70.8	67.1	74.71
108	137	Indonesia	70.76	68.26	73.38
109	138	Peru	70.74	68.33	68.88
110	139	Fiji	70.73	68.18	73.41
111	140	Tonga	70.73	68.18	73.41
112	141	Belarus	70.63	64.95	76.67
113	142	Guatemala	70.29	68.49	72.19
	143	Greenland ( Denmark)	70.07	67.44	72.85
114	144	Iraq	69.94	68.6	71.34
115	145	India	69.89	67.46	72.61
116	146	Kyrgyzstan	69.43	65.43	73.64
117	147	Honduras	69.4	67.86	71.02
118	148	Tuvalu	69.29	66.99	71.7
119	149	São Tomé and Príncipe	68.32	66.65	70.04
120	150	Ukraine	68.25	62.37	74.5
121	151	Belize	68.2	66.44	70.05
122	152	Kazakhstan	67.87	62.58	73.47
123	153	Turkmenistan	67.87	64.94	70.95
124	154	Mongolia	67.65	65.23	70.19
125	155	East Timor	67.27	64.92	69.75
126	156	Bolivia	66.89	64.2	69.72
127	157	Guyana	66.68	64.09	69.4
128	158	Azerbaijan	66.66	62.53	71.34
-	-	World	66.57	64.52	68.76
129	159	Papua New Guinea	66.34	64.08	68.72
130	160	Bhutan	66.13	65.33	66.97
131	161	Russia	66.03	59.33	73.14
132	162	Grenada	65.95	64.06	67.85
133	163	The Bahamas	65.78	62.63	68.98
134	164	Nepal	65.46	64.3	66.67
135	165	Tajikistan	65.33	62.29	68.52
136	166	Pakistan	64.49	63.4	65.64
137	167	Nauru	64.2	60.58	68.01
138	168	Vanuatu	63.98	62.37	65.66
139	169	North Korea	63.81	61.23	66.53
140	170	Comoros	63.47	61.07	65.94
141	171	Burma	63.39	61.17	65.74
142	172	Yemen	63.27	61.3	65.33
143	173	Kiribati	63.22	60.14	66.45
	174	Mayotte ( France)	62.91	60.65	65.24
144	175	Madagascar	62.89	60.93	64.91
145	176	Cambodia	62.1	60.03	64.27
146	177	Botswana	61.85	61.72	61.99
147	178	Eritrea	61.78	59.71	63.9
148	179	Equatorial Guinea	61.61	60.71	62.54
149	180	Haiti	60.78	59.13	62.48
150	181	Mauritania	60.37	58.22	62.59
151	182	Bangladesh	60.25	57.57	63.03
152	183	Ghana	59.85	58.98	60.75
153	184	Benin	59	57.83	60.23
154	185	Senegal	59	57.12	60.93
155	186	Togo	58.69	56.56	60.88
156	187	Kenya	57.86	57.49	58.24
157	188	Guinea	57.09	55.63	58.6
158	189	Laos	56.68	54.56	58.9
159	190	Côte d'Ivoire	55.45	54.64	56.28
160	191	Ethiopia	55.41	52.92	57.97
161	192	The Gambia	55.35	53.43	57.34
162	193	Democratic Republic of the Congo	54.36	52.58	56.2
	194	Western Sahara	54.32	52	56.73
163	195	Republic of the Congo	54.15	52.9	55.43
164	196	Cameroon	53.69	52.89	54.52
165	197	Gabon	53.11	52.19	54.05
166	198	Burkina Faso	52.95	51.04	54.91
167	199	Uganda	52.72	51.66	53.81
168	200	Niger	52.6	51.39	53.85
169	201	Burundi	52.09	51.2	53.01
170	202	Tanzania	52.01	50.56	53.51
171	203	Sudan	51.42	50.49	52.4
172	204	Namibia	51.24	51.61	50.86
173	205	Rwanda	50.52	49.25	51.83
174	206	Mali	50.35	48.38	52.38
175	207	Somalia	49.63	47.78	51.53
176	208	South Africa	48.98	49.81	48.13
177	209	Guinea-Bissau	47.9	46.07	49.79
178	210	Chad	47.7	46.67	48.77
179	211	Nigeria	46.94	46.16	47.76
180	212	Zimbabwe	45.77	46.36	45.16
181	213	Afghanistan	44.64	44.47	44.81
182	214	Central African Republic	44.47	44.4	44.54
183	215	Malawi	43.82	44.07	43.57
184	216	Djibouti	43.37	41.89	44.89
185	217	Liberia	41.84	40.71	43
186	218	Sierra Leone	41.24	38.92	43.64
187	219	Mozambique	41.18	41.83	40.53
188	220	Lesotho	40.38	41.18	39.54
189	221	Zambia	38.63	38.53	38.73
190	222	Angola	38.2	37.24	39.22
191	223	Swaziland	31.88	31.62	32.15

Did you happen to see where the United States was on that chart?

We are NOT Number 1!